Gregory 947am - Thanks for the reminder Gregory. I intended to link to Strassel's column but was concerned about the paywall. Got around it by making it into a downloadable pdf. It's an important companion piece to the Nunes memo.

What the party parrots @1122,1123 fail to realize is that the fuse has been lit. The dems all have egg on their faces because there is no national security information, just the facts on using a false file to get a judge to issue the warrant and counter signatures from team 0's usual subjects. Does anyone think that judge is amused by this revelation?

This is only the beginning of this story and the end of the failed rancid Russian dressing narrative. ;-)

Paul: Blatant violation of Mr. Page’s fourth amendment rights is not a dud. I don’t care who he is. Think about this. Comey was predetermining the outcome of the Hillary investigation before her interview, but he is withholding information from the FISA court to spy on Trump associates. That’s all I need to know about him. Sure looks like the FBI top officials had a finger on the scale of Justice.

With the primary vote just a few months away the trend line for team D is extremely negative. The bounce from the SOTUS is massive and has reset the general inclination from heavy dem lean to a TIE. The real indication of how bad it is for the dems is this-

My problem is this. I speak Russian and make calls to Russia regularly. We talk about the world cup in Nizhni Novgorod and occasionally about politics (which goes poorly generally because my Russian friends love Putin). What if based upon my contacts and using false information to the FISA court, the FBI conducts FISA surveillance on me using such false information to the FISA court, and they call me for an interview, and I don't remember a conversation exactly? Do I get charged with obstruction even though I did nothing wrong? All do respect to Gowdy, it does not discredit Mueller's investigation but it certainly raises a cloud of the political motivations for starting it. In any event, the FBI IG report will come out in March (which allegedly was the basis for "firing" McCabe) and it will shed more light on these important issues.

This memo is just one piece of a puzzle which will come to light whether or not liberals and the mainstream media want it to.

We don't know Gregory because the so called "memo" was cherry picked information and the FBI has stated that it's only part of the story. Surprised you support a process that allows "grave" (according to the FBI and DOJ) information to be released to the public without their support. Your support is odd to me.

Paul isn't picking a fight. We are just discussing the issues rationally. I think that Paul and I are in agreement that (1) this memo is not the whole story and (2) light is the greatest disinfectant. It is interesting watching the cockroaches scurrying about now that the light was turned on. My personal opinion. These FBI guys are not living in a vacuum. Comey did not get to be the FBI director only because he is smart. He is a political animal just like the rest of them - and therein lies the problem. He was not in a vacuum. The Clinton investigation was going on and he knew that she may very well become his boss. The right thing to do was to charge her for blatant violations of federal law, but how do you do that personally? It takes a lot of integrity to do the right thing knowing a high likelihood your career could be over. I don't think that the political animals played it down the middle which is evidenced by McCabe's firing and the texts between the Strzok and Page.

Honestly absent Clinton's corruption and illegal acts thus putting these guys in this awkward position, none of this would have happened. Takes huevos to go after the Clintons and Comey did not have them, but apparently he had huevos to go after Trump backed up with unverified information.

"Barry, did you forget to factor in the Comey letter that cost Hillary the election?" Your statement assumes that he cost Hillary the election which cannot be verified. Again, they had to do something so they played it down the middle.

Hillary was routed in the electoral college for ignoring certain states. She won the popular vote (New York and California) but ignored the Constitution. Shocking that she ignored the Constitution I might add.

It's embarrassing as hell to people in the FBI and DOJ not used to being called out, not classified or a "grave" threat to the Republic.

Schiff will work on his memo, which might be further along had he been working on it as hard as he'd been working on discrediting Nunez. The GOP majority will do their due diligence in slowing its release down as much as is politically possible.

"Surprised you support a process that allows "grave" (according to the FBI and DOJ) information to be released to the public without their support. Your support is odd to me."

Paul, your localized amnesia is noted and does seem very odd to me.

How many years of sucking down government checks does it take before you start trusting the FBI, DOJ, CIA, NSA and the rest of the alphabets spokesmen justifying secrecy and secret federal courts? Is that a belief of "green libertarians" of which I was previously unaware?

Alan Dershowitz makes some very salient points. Per Dershowitz, partisanship has overrun this entire fiasco, and it is time to appoint a non-partisan commission to tell the American people what happened. Interesting idea but who are these non-partisans???

BarryP 216pm - For broader discussions of Deep State operations, I invite you to consider 'Deep State's Rogue Roots'. In answer to your question, the organization 'No Labels' (see 'The Invisible Nunes Memo') would make a claim for that role. But I also view all self-declared non-partisans with a gimlet eye.

Barry P, there ain't no such thang as a non-partisan blue ribbon commission with teeth.

With all due respect to Prof. Dershowitz, a thoughtful Democrat but still a Democrat:

This is a problem of Democrats Gone Wild!, borne of thinking there won't be repercussions under President Hillary. Partisan Republicans should do their best imitation of being reflective and knowledgeable legislators in rooting out the problems. That's the system we have; it's messy, but their team won and it is their turn at bat.

Well you are nresorting to personal attacks with your "How many years of sucking down government checks..."snark which renders the rest of your comment meaningless. Can you quantify what government checks you are talking about?

George, had I been chewing gum I would have swallowed it listening to NPR All Things Considered last night... a former CIA mucky muck was being touted as a neutral observer BECAUSE he served under GOP and DEM presidents... he was appointed Deputy Director by Clinton, was interim director when George Tenet stepped down, served through Obama's term.

Oh you mean my social security. What is your problem with that? Are you saying because I receive Social Security it taints my opinion? I did work for it and paid into it. I'm sure then you're not going to accept yours when the time comes.

No Gregory. I'm pissed because you some how want to tie my
Social Security to my ability to comment on this topic. You can do better than this my friend. Makes you look really lame. You don't have to drop to the level of Bessee or Todd. You actually are very insightful. Why are you stooping to this level?

I figured there must be something causing you to get on your knees to the spooks telling you what to think, government checks are a common thing.

Have you figured out how long it will be before you're no longer getting a fair return on your dollars (despite them not being invested in the meantime) and just getting Manna from other people's kids paychecks?

No Paul, I'm sucking down every penny and biting the hand that feeds me, for its own good. Starting with survivor's benetfits and Pell Grants that helped pay the bills for my kid's University education, at.least until Harvard started paying him to attend there.

A Pell Grant is a subsidy the U.S. federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor's degree, or who are enrolled in certain post-baccalaureate programs, through participating institutions.

jons 548pm - The market corrected 2.5% today after having advanced 32+% from one year ago, and 49% since Trump was elected. The market was advancing super-exponentially (q.v. in these pages) which always portends a significant correction since our universe does not support long-lasting super-exponential growth in ANYTHING. However the innumerates are at a disadvantage in such discussions. You must have had a point tucked away in that comment, please share.

So jon,, you not an investor? This i s called a market correction. Wall St. hates good news on Main st. Other than news of the dirty pool the DOJ plays, do tell
what cat'sasterphy happened to put a run on the banks?
And the bond rate went up a bit.( a booming economy has a way of doing that)

In the bad old days old folks who weren't able to save (or just didn't) were a burden on their kids or destitute, but with SS, that isn't the case no mo'... you file for benefits and become a burden on everyone else's kids!

Paul Emery has lost his marbles again. He really has no clue about things and how they work. It is a Federal Law to pay SS and Medicare. An employee pays half and his employer pays half. If self employed you pay it all. So when you retire you start getting the money you paid, back. Now, Paul, do you understand? I am a happy camper as I have some SSN and retirement and some investments. Hopefully I will never be a burden on the taxpayers or my kids. And for that matter I put about 45 million through the economy all at my risk as a builder. And hired many local men and women. Can you say the same thing?

Stock market is simply selling for profits and will be moving back up soon. A person's 401K is up 40% this last year. Millions are happy campers.

No problem with you sucking down government checks, Paul, just don't convince yourself that you're getting your own money back with interest. It's always been socialism with an American face just like FDR had in mind.

It does appear your blood bro Todd also thinks he's paid for his SS and Medicare benefits. For both, the money is paid in by the working, and sucked out by the retired. You can pretend for the first few years you're just getting the money you put in plus interest, if it makes you feel better about it.

Actually, Gregory seems to not know squat about SSN or Medicare. That is a surprise. I paid into the system as required by law. Now I am drawing it out. I did not set the in amount and I did not determine the amount paid out. Your government does that. Yes It is a system that I don't care for perse' But the law is the law and it was passed 80 years go before I was born. My dad got five SS checks and then passed. The government demanded the fifth check returned by my mother. She was a housewife and took care of us while Pop worked. Standard in those days. So maybe Gregory needs to review the law. As far as Paul Emery "sucking" in money from it. That is his and his right to do so under the law. An we are a nation off laws.

A libertarian think tank has notified the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) that California cities and counties may have inadvertently admitted to securities fraud in their global warming lawsuits against oil companies.

[,,,]

“[I]n their lawsuits many of the municipalities claim to be able to accurately be able to predict sea level rise caused by climate change,” Kazman and Watkins wrote. “However, some of the bond offerings of these municipalities state that such predictions were not possible.”

For example, San Francisco’s lawsuit predicts “0.3 to as much as 0.8 feet of additional sea level rise by 2030,” which could cost $5 billion in the long-term. But the city told investors they were “unable to predict whether sea-level rise or other impacts of climate change or flooding from a major storm will occur, when they may occur.”

All San Francisco needs are a series of locks under the Golden Gate like Amsterdam has to hold back the ocean. The rivers will be rerouted to Lake Bakersfield through the delta tunnels. The downside is bitching and moaning by a few fishermen and tree huggers.

Russ 856am - Agreed. But some of the fraudsters should face jail time.

ArchieB 917am - My approach has been to put the locks at the entry to SF Bay near Vallejo. And then divert to Lake Bakersfield as necessary. But pumping fresh water into the Pacific is beyond butt stupid, only a progressive mind sees it as a boon to mankind.

GR 10:24
I'd like to think my great grand kids would want to experience cracked crab, salmon, orcas, sea lions, etc., etc., All of these would disappear without the influx of fresh water. A San Francisco Bay that actually has water in it and hasn't been silted in behind your locks would be a nice touch too. To each his own.

GR 10:30 - True to form you exhibit a complete lack of understanding ecology at its most basic level. Tidal currents alone won't clean the bay of sediment or stale water. Fresh water is required in the lifecycles of the crabs, salmon, orcas and sea lions that I pointed out. EVERYTHING they eat depends on fresh water for portions of their lives. this has absolutely nothing to do with tidal flow. Salt/fresh water mixing is what makes the Sacramento Delta one of the richest and most diverse habitats in the country.

jons 105pm - au contraire mon ami. You didn't seem to notice the provenance of this thread that was willing to sacrifice some bay and estuary wildlife so that central valley farmers and California's doubled population can have drinking water. There is no free lunch.

And examples of large healthy bays abound that are not regularly irrigated with fresh water from large drainage basins like the one that feeds the Sacramento delta. No one denies that the eco-system of SF bay would change were its only water exchange to be from remaining fresh water ingresses and tidal flows through the Golden Gate. But I do challenge you to point us to a hydrodynamic model of the bay (I'm sure one exists), the exercise of which has been verified and that backs up the cataclysmic claims of 'environmentalists' like yourself. (Unless you are better read in the STEM basis of eco-system than you have heretofore evinced, you'd be blown away how much I and others like me know about ecological dynamics.)

When I crossed over the Columbia a few years ago while we were in a drought, I thought how could we get some of that to California? It might be cheaper than Jerry Brown's tunnels to get the water her from there?

ToddJ 238pm - Great thought and much contemplated here and elsewhere. It's even a Wikipedia entry. But if it ever became a serious proposal, I fear that Mr smith's cousin, the Oregon environmentalist, would start pissing and moaning about the catastrophic end to the Columbia delta eco-system. You have to understand that these people worship the chaotic state that nature has left things in as if that world order is the holiest of holies ordained by Gaia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_interstate_water_pipelines_to_California

WOW there is a wiki for everything! I think the Columbia was a mile or so across where I was. There is plenty of water heaed out to sea. If the politicians can get the people to fund a 80 billion dollar train to nowhere, I think it is possible to buy the water and build the pipeline.

Gregory at 5:36 - No need for a war. Everyone has their price. In point of fact, Oregonians are very glad to sell their water to their southern neighbors. https://projects.oregonlive.com/bottled-water/
It's just a matter of which particular special interest is paid off first.

Water?
The desalination plant in Santa Barbara officially was opened the day Jerry Brownstreak declared the drought was over. I cannot recall which drought he was referring to. Anyway, the expensive desalination plant never operated and the city has tried to sell the plant’s filters and parts to any buyers with no success. The knock on desalination plants is they require ungodly sums of electricity to operate. Greenies cried foul, not to mention the excess salt released back into the ocean is bad for our fishy friends who live along the coastline.

Water?
Reports from the CA Greenies claim that just the construction of the Brownstreak Tunnel would create and release into the air the equivalent of 30 years of greenhouse gases that all of our State’s efforts and laws to cut down of greenhouse gases have saved from being released into the air. 30 years of efforts to save the planet erased by just the construction of The Tunnel, aka, the Black Hole. Bad juju for the granola heads.

Reports from the CA Greenies claim that just the construction of the Brownstreak Tunnel would create and release into the air the equivalent of 30 years of greenhouse gases that all of our State’s efforts and laws to cut down of greenhouse gases have saved from being released into the air. 30 years of efforts to save the planet erased by just the construction of The Tunnel, aka, the Black Hole.

Pish posh William.....no sacrifice is too great when there are progressive/democrat cronies to pay off.

I too watched these desal plants and saw the reports of their cost and maintenance. Huge money for very local results. If California would sop the train to nowhere and the tunnels to wherever, there is plenty of money for negotiating on those two things alone. These are things that a leadership team would be working on if we had one.

There are plenty of other wastes of our money to look at as well. You know, "money talks and BS walks" works for water as well.

Re water - yes indeed, this imbroglio again illustrates how the liberal mind (dys)functions. We dump gazillions of environmentally clean fresh water into the Pacific while building/operating desalinization plants that require enormous amounts of energy and pollute the coastal waters. The evidence mounts that they are indeed afflicted with a mental disorder.

Yes, George 845 and the enviro-left in OR would, I'm sure, work overtime to destroy the future election chances of any OR politician who dared to open negotiations with the state to their immediate south to have that environmentally clean water to be flushed down SoCal toilets one or two gallons at a time rather than out to the Pacific Ocean in the Columbia River in a gazillion-gallon an hour rate, as Gaia intended.

John Kerry reporting for duty in 2020. Some things don’t change. You can’t fix stupid.

“Mr. Kerry proposed a regional agreement in which Egypt and Jordan would guarantee Israel’s security as part of a deal for a Palestinian state.

Mr. Netanyahu scoffed at the idea.

Israeli’s military was already propping up Egypt’s military, he said, according to the Americans. If Egypt was unable to control the ground within its own borders, Mr. Netanyahu argued, it was hardly in a position to guarantee security for Israel.”

No wonder George Washington warned our young country against permanent allies in his farewell address:

“It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world": it was George Washington's Farewell Address to us. The inaugural pledge of Thomas Jefferson was no less clear: "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations-entangling alliances with none."

I don’t know about the rest of you’ll, but whenever a lefty starts taking about money and banks in particular, I kinda tune it all out....or do the opposite. Learned that trick watching the highly esteemed Economic Guru, Paul Krugman. Do the opposite, believe the opposite.

The partisan created Nunes Memo was a dummy warhead. The FBI had issues with the Nunes memo because of its misleading (by omission) nature. The Demo Memo is being held up because it may actually contain some sensitive information, not because it is an inaccurate portrayal.

The Nunes memo was, in reality, a smoke-bomb, a cheap magic trick, to cloud the easily confused minds of the proletariat and distract from the Russia probe.

Posted by: George Rebane | 10 February 2018 at 10:56 AM - and what do DOJ departures have to do with the Nunes memo? I would say about as much as White House staff and Republicans leaving Congress do with any specific event. It was a dodge by Fish to set up for an insult.